Great Young Whistlers Rewarded

Celebrating the completion of the Durham County Cup season, the RFU’s local delivery team were at Kingston Park to watch Newcastle Falcons and reward the great work done by Young Match Officials (YMOs) as part of the Vic Young YMO programme, sponsored by Vic Young Motors and supported by Sport England, Durham County RFU and the DCRFU Referees Society.

This year’s Durham County Cup was the biggest yet, with 40 schools from across the county taking part in the competition, all helped by YMOs from local schools. All had completed RFU referee courses and took charge of games with great confidence and understanding. They were invited to a Falcons match and each presented with a cap to recognise their excellent work.

There to encourage them were international referee Luke Pearce and Premiership Match Official John Meredith. Both were impressed with the programme and spoke to the young referees about further opportunities that they could enjoy.

The programme continues to give school players and emerging referees the chance to develop further through rugby. Planning is already underway for next year’s County Cup ensuring that schools in Durham are provided with competitive and regular playing opportunities, while the YMO programme continues to grow. Courses for the summer term will cater for some 110 pupils with the potential for another 50 to be involved.

Durham is certainly growing the game!

By John Pearson

The review has also been updated on the England Rugby website, click here to go to page.